First Look

Development of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress started in the late 1930s as part of the contingency development for long-range bombardment capability should forward operating bases in the UK be lost to the German's advances in Europe. Early problems in the development of the B-29 led the USAAC to launch Consolidated on a parallel development effort for the same capability. This aircraft would become the B-32 Dominator.

Developed from the B-24 Liberator design, the B-32 adopted more powerful engines, a pressurized fuselage, remote-controlled turrets, and other advanced features. The design initially retained the twin tails of the B-24, but these were replaced with the single large fin that would also appear on the PB4Y Privateer.

The B-32 reached operational status during the war and while it came online too late for Europe, it did conduct combat operations in the Pacific before the end of World War Two. While 118 of these aircraft were produced, no examples exist today.

As with many of the Anigrand Craftswork 1/144 scale releases, this kit is actually four kits in one box. The four subjects in this box are:

Consolidated B-32 Dominator

Hughes XP-73/XA-37

North American XB-28

McDonnell XP-67 Bat

The first image illustrates the usual fine job of packaging of each kit and clear parts to get you a complete and undamaged model. Each bag contains one kit, and each bag is heat-sealed into separate compartments to keep parts from shifting around during shipment and potentially damaging one another.

The next image is of the main parts of the Dominator. The kit is beautifully hollow cast and has nice detailing in the castings. Assembly is literally plug and play with the wings, tail, engine nacelles, etc., all plugging into one another to build up the model. Much of your time will be spent building up the individually cast prop blades up into their prop hubs.

The next kit in this set is the Hughes XP-73 and as you can see in the image, the kit is simple and straightforward though you'll need to build up those tiny prop blades onto their hubs. A home-made prop jig would make this process faster and easier. You actually have two sets of props in this this set, the three-bladed props for the XP-73 or the four-bladed props of the XA-37 that are also provided. Take your choice. Two sets of nacelles are also provided to render your choice of XP-73 or XA-37.

The third kit is the North American XB-28 which was supposed to be a development of their successful B-25 adapted to meet the high-altitude medium bomber requirement, but it bears a strong resemblance to the B-26 Marauder. Like the other kits in this set, the kit is laid out in a simple plug and play assembly with a minimum of sanding and dry-fitting required.

The final kit in this set is the McDonnell XP-67 Bat. The concept was advanced as was the aircraft's silhouette, but development problems kept the aircraft out of production. The kit however is simple as the majority of the aircraft is cast as one part. You'll have to plug in the outer wing panels, horizontal stabs and vertical stab, plus build up the four-bladed props. This one should be the easiest build out of this box.

The kit provides two sheets of decals to provide sufficient markings for all four aircraft.

There are some interesting subjects in this box and clearly the most impressive of the lot is also the headliner - the B-32 Dominator. Even in 1/144 scale, this isn't a small model but it is certainly distinctive and will go well with the three other designs that never made it to prime time.

My sincere thanks to the US importer, Nostalgic Plastic for this review sample!

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